Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Dushanbe: The United Arab Emirates secured their first win of their AFC Women’s Asian Cup Group A qualifying campaign on Monday thanks to a 3-0 win over rock bottom Iraq.
With qualification no longer an option for either side, the encounter at Dushanbe’s Republican Central Stadium was always going to be more about pride than points, and it was the Emiratis who shone first, Shahed Jassem’s 15th minute shot being smartly blocked by Iraq goalkeeper Khalat Asaad Mustafa.
The breakthrough was to come just two minutes later, Houriya Hussain Taheri firing home from inside the penalty area to open the scoring for the UAE.
With midfielder Tiba Saleem excelling, Iraq then began to dominate proceedings and livewire striker Sipal Shukur Rasheed came close to restoring parity with decent efforts in the 56th and 73rd minutes.
Despite their admirable resurgence, Iraq went further behind on the 78th minute, this time Nouf Faleh firing from close range to double the UAE’s advantage.
Salha Rashid duly completed the scoring with a brilliant shot from distance which sailed into the nette minutes from time.
The UAE face will meet hosts Tajikistan in their final qualifier on Wednesday, while Iraq are scheduled to take on Bahrain.
www.the-afc.com/en/more/photo/iraq_v_uae_2_md4_wacq_tff_jpg.html
